By Rabelani Dagada
One of the things that we should do as Africans is to stop indulging in victimhood. Blaming colonisation, the apartheid system, and Chinese commercial dominance perpetually will not assist us to be empowered as individuals and / or African countries. You will hardly hear people in South Korea and Vietnam complaining about past foreign subjugation, military dictatorships and wars. These countries went through rough times politically and their economies were mainly dependent on agriculture and some elementary manufacturing. Other than not indulging in victimhood and blaming their unenviable histories, South Korea and Vietnam have boosted their economic development through the Information and Communications Technology (ICT)-education nexus. Whilst most thinkers attribute the growth and recovery of the South Korean and Vietnamese economies to prudent macroeconomic policy and stability of governments, I posit that the relationship of ICT policy and education has served to sustain those unusual rates of development. The economic reforms saw Vietnam defiantly emerge as one of the fastest growing economies today with a consistent annual GDP growth of 7%. The ICT-education nexus assumed centre stage. Vietnam spent considerable sums of their earnings from trade markets and foreign direct investment on ICT and education. Profound economic changes led to major positive consequences; for the first time in years GDP growth reached a phenomenal 7%, a rate that was consistently exceeded in subsequent years. I hereby urge all IITPSA members to empower yourselves through Continuing Professional Development which puts an emphasis on ICT skills development. You will personally reap positive rewards for such endeavours and contribute to the economic growth of African countries.
Rabelani Dagada (PMIITPSA) is the President of IITPSA
His Twitter handle is @Rabelani_Dagada
